Taxi customer information and advice

There are two types of licensed vehicles. Hackney carriages (taxi) and private hire vehicle.

• Hackney carriage vehicles can pick up from taxi ranks and can be flagged down in the street.
• Private hire vehicles have to be pre-booked and cannot be flagged down in the street. It is illegal for a private hire vehicle to take a journey which has not been pre-booked or to accept a fare by being hailed.

Check the drivers identification badge:

• anyone driving a licensed vehicle must also be licensed as a driver by a local authority. Licensed drivers are issued with an identification badge by us which displays a photo of the driver, an identification number and an expiry date. Drivers are required to display the badge in a prominent position. To see an example, download our Driver Identification badge. 

Hackney carriage vehicles (taxis) licensed by Derby City Council:

• are painted yellow in the city of Derby
• have an illuminated taxi sign on the roof
• displays a Hackney Carriage Fare Table   on back of vehicle showing vehicle details and expiry date
• will display a licence disc in the windscreen showing vehicle detail and expiry date
• have stickers in the rear windows or on outer rear door panel showing the licence number of the vehicle
• some are traditional London cabs and others are people carriers.

Private hire vehicles licensed by Derby City Council:

• are saloon vehicles or people carriers which are not yellow in colour
• displays a blue licence plate on back of vehicle showing vehicle details and expiry date
• will display a licence disc ‌in the windscreen showing vehicle detail and expiry date.

Hackney carriages (taxi) licensed by Derby City Council

Each hackney carriage is fitted with a calibrated meter which can be seen in the cab of the vehicle. For journeys within the city of Derby the cost of the journey is calculated by the meter. The Hackney Carriage Fare Table is displayed inside each taxi. For journeys with a destination outside the city of Derby, the driver can negotiate the fare with you before the journey commences and they can ask for the money in advance. The driver can legally refuse a journey that goes outside of the city. Download a map of Derby to see whether your journey falls within the city boundary. 

Private hire

Each vehicle is fitted with a datahead and the fare will be calculated by this meter unless you have agreed a fare in advance. A table of fares is displayed inside each vehicle, these may vary from operator to operator.

If you travel with an assistance dog they must be allowed in the hackney carriage (taxi) or private hire vehicle, unless the driver has an exemption certificate. This can be issued if the driver has a medical condition made worse by contact with dogs. A driver with an exemption certificate will have a yellow ‘Notice of Exemption’ on their vehicle windscreen.

There is no charge for assistance dogs, wheelchairs or mobility aids.

Private Hire drivers may carry any animal belonging to a passenger at their own discretion anywhere in the vehicle and they shall ensure, where necessary, that such animals are suitably restrained/contained so as not to present a nuisance or hazards to the occupants of the vehicle.

Overcharging and time keeping

If your complaint is about over charging or pre-booked taxis and private hire vehicles not turning up on time you should take your complaint up with the driver or their operator, quoting the drivers badge number, vehicle number and or vehicle registration number.

You could also contact Derby Trading Standards.

Obstructions

If your complaint is about where taxis or private hire vehicles are parked or causing an obstruction:

• on a private car park or private land - contact the owner of the car park or land
• on a council car park, double yellow lines or zebra crossing - contact Parking Services by email parking.services@derby.gov.uk or telephone Streetpride on 0333 200 6981.

Road traffic offences

If your complaint is about a road traffic offence, (example: bad or erratic driving, been cut up, using hand held mobile phone or any other offence that comes under road traffic legislation) we have no jurisdiction over these, so you will need to contact Derbyshire Constabulary on telephone number 101.

Complaints we can investigate

The types of complaint that we are able to investigate:

• equality and diversity issues
• inappropriate behaviour
• over charging by Derby City Council Licensed hackney carriage (taxi) drivers
• Derby City Council licensed Hackney carriage (taxi) drivers refusing to carry passengers in Derby City area
• vehicle defects including cleanliness
• safeguarding issues (including children and adults)
• drivers smoking in licensed vehicles
• hackney carriage drivers Licensed by Derby City Council not using the meter
• drivers taking an extended route

You will need to contact us by email at taxi.licensing@derby.gov.uk or by telephone on 01332 641951 quoting the drivers badge number, vehicle licence number, vehicle registration number and the date and time of the incident.

If you have left property in a vehicle you should contact the private hire operator or the driver direct. We recommend you make a note of the vehicle details after paying for your journey.

We have a Taxi Marshal Scheme at various taxi ranks in the city centre, which facilitate and control queues for taxi’s to promote public safety.

Taxi marshals can be identified as they wear high visibility jacket.

The taxi marshals work on Victoria Street and Friar Gate ranks on Friday and Saturday evenings from 11.30pm until 4.30am.

Once a vehicle has been licensed as a hackney carriage it is a hackney carriage for the duration of that licence and can be used for pre-booked purposes in any district in England and Wales except London. It is not an offence for a licensed private hire operator in Derby to take bookings, and then dispatch a hackney carriage vehicle, licensed by another district to undertake your journey. A hackney carriage can lawfully be used to carry out pre-booked work as a private hire vehicle outside its own district.

The operator shall inform the customer of that fact, whether by a pre-recorded announcement during a telephone call, by written terms visible when booking on an Internet site or signing up to an App, or by any other method likely to bring the information to the attention of the customer at the time of booking or prior to making a booking.